Giant Food to take the South Philly site initially planned for German grocer Lidl
The site sits next to a parcel where property-owner Bart Blatstein has been seeking permits to build a Wawa store with gas pumps.
Lidl, the German grocer, has abandoned plans for a supermarket on part of the South Philadelphia site along the Delaware River where a Foxwoods Casino was once proposed, according to a published report.
The property, on Christopher Columbus Boulevard between Reed and Dickinson Streets, will instead be occupied by Giant Food Stores, which has a deal to build a 46,000-square-foot shop at the property, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported Friday.
.
Developer Bart Blatstein declined to comment to the Business Journal and did not return a phone message from The Inquirer. A Lidl spokesperson also did not return a message.
A Giant spokesperson confirmed that the company plans a store at the site but said no details were available.
The supermarket site is located at the northwest quarter of the the 21-acre property that Blatstein acquired following a failed effort by another development group to build a casino there.
Blatstein has been working for more than four years to get permits for a Wawa gas station to be built on part of the property just to the south.
Neighborhood groups, open-space advocates, and civic organizations have opposed the plan for gas pumps, which require explicit permission from Philadelphia’s zoning board. It began hearing arguments for and against the proposal in November and will resume its consideration of the project at a meeting Tuesday.
Giant announced this month that it planned to invest $114 million in Pennsylvania operations over the next 18 months, including the construction of a distribution center at 3501 Island Ave. in Southwest Philadelphia to support its e-commerce business.
Blatstein disclosed plans for the South Columbus Boulevard Giant store about a week after, saying that the grocer would open another location at a property he owns at Broad Street and Washington Avenue.
The grocer, a unit of Dutch supermarket giant Ahold Delhaize, also plans a store at PMC Property Group’s River Walk development project under construction on the Schuylkill’s eastern bank and has been opening smaller-format shops under its Heirloom brand around the city.
Lidl (rhymes with “needle”) opened its first Philadelphia location last month in the city’s Port Richmond section. Another Philadelphia location, on Roosevelt Boulevard in the Northeast, is slated to open before the end of 2020.